Rise of Alandria: Reboot Interest and Discussions

[Aldurin]

Ok, first off I take full blame for shutting down Tales of Alandria. I was impatient and it was ridiculous for me to expect anything tangible within a weeks' period of time (even Teal Mage struggles with his once-a-week schedule, and he's all hardball about rules). If nothing gets done for a month at certain points I'll still stick with it.

Now the main issue to address is that I was a bad GM in other ways, specifically design for a system that was needlessly complex, made with the full intention of "RPGs need this shit yo" which obfuscationalizated stuff and raised the required effort too much.

First change, I'm throwing out the whole "run the item shop because that's a thing you're supposed to do" system. I understand that a lot of what an RPG is about is how much direction you give to the players and how much of the direction do you leave for them to decide. So I'll bullet out the main changes.

• You run the whole damn town now. You can choose structures to add and regulate your whatnot, somewhat similar to X-com: Enemy Unknown.
• Specializations are thrown out, you'll be able to choose from certain trades or skills that your character specializes in, and that will allow them to provide close oversight to relevant buildings in Alandria, providing bonuses of some kind.
• Since this RP was made in part to begin public introduction into my superstory (mentioned earlier in other threads), I think I'll more directly throw in my specific version of Magic Theory. I promise this won't complicate mechanics, but it will add more interest in intrigue into the system.
• I have special NPCs in mind so that the GM/Player control on direction is properly handled this time, they also play into this story I'm introducing.
• Given how working at Walmart gives me shitloads of time to think, I'm brewing up a better battle system with more freeform involved.
• So one of my big selling points of ToA was crazy "fuck science, imma make a whatever" or "Revelations". That has been thrown out and put back in as a part of the freeform way you can upgrade Alandria's structures and industries beyond all reason and boundaries (want a factory that makes babies? seriously? ok fine you can do it, but you'll have to find room near the Organic Gundam farm and the 4th-dimensional windmill.)

This is an interest thread at the moment since I'm not solid on what I want in terms of character generation yet. I will probably allow for ToA PC's to be recovered by their respective players, but their stats will need to be rebuilt.

What I really need is your input on this? What ideas do you like? Any suggestions to expand certain aspects? How much control would you guys like to have over different aspects of the gameplay? How much freeform do you want? This will help me make a better game and give me more perspective so that I become a better GM.